It has been a long time since I have been to a Vikings game, far longer since I went anywhere with a toddler toting a diaper bag.

A check on the Vikings’ website for tickets to the upcoming Cleveland Browns game revealed the cheapest tickets in the upper deck of the Metrodome are a hefty $72. That pales in comparison to the $347 ticket broker StubHub is asking for sideline tickets to the upcoming home game against the Chicago Bears. (For $347 dollars I could fly round trip to the Windy City and spend the night, but I digress.)

What I am saying is that for that price, I can not believe that female fans are not rising up in protest over the new handbag policy.

I know this is not the Vikings’ deal — this is an NFL matter. And I get the ban on backpacks and larger purses. No one who has seen the chilling surveillance video from the Boston Marathon of the bombers casually leaving their murderous backpacks on the sidewalk can argue with that.

But no smaller purses? Just a clutch? (Who carries a clutch, other to an evening event?) Or a see-through small bag a la airport security? (The thought of personal hygiene items on display sends me back to my cringe-worthy self-consciousness junior high days.)

How many gloves, hats, and belongings in general will get left behind and lost as a result of no purse to stuff them in? Guys you won’t get this one, but any mother who has gone anywhere with her family ends up carrying everyone’s extras, including her husbands’.

Bags that are brought to games that are too big will have to be checked and reclaimed in a separate security area after the game. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

The atmosphere at Vikings games is already less than family friendly. I am referring to some fans who use game day as a chance to consume amounts of alcohol that would flatten most human beings, and then loudly — and at times profanely — give running commentary for an entire section of the stadium to hear.

On the other hand, television coverage of games has gotten so good, especially in high definition, that watching games at home is better than sitting on the 50-yard line. These days airline travel has become so unpleasant it makes you at times wish you could just stay home. And that’s kind of what I am thinking about the NFL right now too.